Assessment of Mental Health Need Before, During, and After COVID-19

Purpose

The purpose of this assessment is to identify areas of potentially increased mental health need as a result of COVID-19 in NYC. The resulting aim is to route public health efforts and mental health resources to those identified areas of highest need.

Background of Datasets

For this assessment, we will use the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index along with the child opportunity index to establish the baseline mental health need in NYC. COVID19 related data will then be added onto this baseline as a “COVID19 Layer” to identify those areas of increased mental health need in the context of COVID19

Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)

• Background: In the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, “SVI data can be used to identify communities that will need continued support to recover following an emergency or natural disaster, and allocate emergency preparedness funding by community need.” As seen in current events, COVID19 disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic communities. It is evident that public health institutions not only factor in, but lead with the social determinants of health – which contribute to racial inequities in health– when planning and executing emergency resource allocation during and after COVID19.

Exploration of Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)

Using FIPS code '36' for state 'NY'

SVI consists of 15 census variables organized into 4 different themes: Socioeconomic Status (RPL_THEME1), Household Composition & Disability (RPL_THEME2), Minority Status & Language (RPL_THEME3), Housing & Transportation (RPL_THEME4) and an overall summary (RPL_THEMES). These themes are measured in percentile rank. A higher percentile rank represents greater vulnerability, with a percentile rank of 0.00 meaning the least vulnerable and 1.00 meaning the most vulnerable. Reference:https://svi.cdc.gov/Documents/Data/2016_SVI_Data/SVI2016Documentation.pdf

These rankings have been alloted by census tract (GEOID)– “uniquely numbered subdivisions of a county, representing a neighborhood averaging about 4,000 inhabitants.” NYC has 5 different counties (“New York”, “Kings”, “Bronx”, “Richmond”, “Queens”) which have been subdivided into 2,166 census tracts. To provide a frame of reference, census tracts are more granular than zip codes. There are 178 zip codes in NYC.

To begin, we will review SVI data by NY county.

Review of SVI Data by NYC County

COUNTY	FIPS	LOCATION	RPL_THEME1	RPL_THEME2	RPL_THEME3	RPL_THEME4	RPL_THEMES
Richmond	36085	Richmond County, New York	0.2951	0.1967	0.8852	0.7049	0.5410
New York	36061	New York County, New York	0.5738	0.0164	0.9508	0.9672	0.6393
Queens	36081	Queens County, New York	0.7049	0.0328	0.9836	0.7213	0.7377
Kings	36047	Kings County, New York	0.9016	0.3770	0.9672	0.8525	0.9180
Bronx	36005	Bronx County, New York	1.0000	0.8033	1.0000	0.9508	1.0000

At a glance, the Bronx county has the highest overall social vulnerability (RPL_THEMES=1.000) followed by Kings county (RPL_THEMES=0.918). This seems to indicate that these two counties are likely to be substantially impacted by COVID19 and need priority allocation of emergency resources.

Mapping SVI data by County

Using FIPS code '36' for state 'NY'

Now, let’s take a look at how COVID19 has impacted NYC counties to date:

BOROUGH_GROUP	COVID_CASE_COUNT	COVID_CASE_RATE	COUNTY
The Bronx	35860	2436.99	Bronx
Brooklyn	41744	1538.61	Kings
Manhattan	19672	1045.07	New York
Queens	48847	1950.99	Queens
Staten Island	11520	2293.18	Richmond
Citywide	157713	NA	NA

The above contains cumulative, age adjusted rates of confirmed cases per 100,000 people, by NYC borough of residence. We can see that The Bronx (Bronx County) and Staten Island (Richmond County) have higher COVID case rates in relation to all other counties. Assuming COVID case rate is an indicator of COVID impact, let’s add in COVID data into the current SVI rankings.

Note: I don’t think it’s this easy.

Adding COVID DATA into Percent Ranking in SVI

COUNTY	BOROUGH_GROUP	SPL_THEMES	COVID_CASE_RATE	covid_rank	adj_SPL	svi_covid_rank
Richmond	Staten Island	7.4917	2293.18	0.75	8.2417	0.25
New York	Manhattan	7.8524	1045.07	0.00	7.8524	0.00
Queens	Queens	8.1966	1950.99	0.50	8.6966	0.50
Kings	Brooklyn	9.9672	1538.61	0.25	10.2172	0.75
Bronx	The Bronx	11.8525	2436.99	1.00	12.8525	1.00

Based on the new “svi_covid_rank”, we can see that Bronx and Kings county still hold their rank as the highest in social vulnerability in the context of COVID.

Mapping COVID adjusted SVI data by County

ZIP CODE CLEAN/TRANSFORM #178 zip codes in nyc

Leaflet#1 - SVI by Census Tract

Leaflet#2 - NYC ZIPS

Leaflet#3 - NYC ZIPS + COVID19 % Positive

Some values were outside the color scale and will be treated as NASome values were outside the color scale and will be treated as NA

Leaflet#4 - NYC CHILD OPP

Leaflet#5 - SVI by Census Tract + ZCTAS (ZIP) Overlay